Drywall trim autofolder, mastic applicator and cutter

ABSTRACT

A drywall trim application device that can hold a large role of drywall flex corner trim material and, as the material is being dispensed, pre-crease or form the material for use on an inside or outside corner, or any angle within the range of the trim material, apply a mastic material (drywall mud, adhesive or any other bonding medium) to the flex trim material, and cut the material at any desired length automatically. Measurements may be either input by hand or downloaded from an electronic measurement tool into this device. This invention can generally store multiple measurements such as length and angles, measure the length of flex trim material as it is dispensed from the device, crease the material, apply predetermined amount of mastic, and automatically cut the flex trim material to each length previously input.

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/733,320filed Jan. 3, 2013 which was a divisional application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/151,002 filed Jun. 1, 2011 which was adivisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/633,086filed Nov. 30, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,958,923. U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/633,086 claimed priority from United StatesProvisional Patent application No. 60/742,797 filed Dec. 6, 2005. U.S.patent application Ser. Nos. 13/733,320, 13/151,002, 11/633,086 and60/742,797 are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of drywall cornertrim application and more particularly to a device that will hold alarge roll of drywall flex corner trim material and, as the material isbeing dispensed, pre-crease the material for use on an inside or outsidecorner, apply a mastic material, adhesive, or adhesive activationmaterial and cut the material at any desired length.

2. Description of the Prior Art

It is known in the industry to use various outside, inside and flexcorner trim materials in finishing sheet rocked walls (drywall). Thesevarious materials have specific purposes such as for an inside corner oran outside corner, or they can be flexed by hand to cover various cornerangles (off angles). This requires the installer to purchase, stock, andcarry each of these different products, in various lengths, with themfrom job to job.

In using all of these different corner trim materials the installer hasto apply a mastic material, usually drywall mud, some adhesive or someadhesive activation material such as water for water activatedadhesives, to the corner prior to applying the trim material, orotherwise mechanically fasten it into place either with nails, staples,screws or otherwise. This is usually done by hand with various tools.All of these materials must also be cut to length, usually by hand,during installation at the job site which creates much wasted cornertrim material.

It would be advantageous to have a device that will do many or all ofthese operations automatically at the time of installation making theinstallers work easier, faster, more efficient and with less wastematerial.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device that can hold a large roll(possible 500 feet of material or more) of drywall flex corner trimmaterial and, as the material is being dispensed, pre-crease or form thematerial for use on an inside or outside corner, or any angle within therange of the trim material, apply a mastic material (drywall mud,adhesive or any other bonding medium) to the flex trim material, and cutthe material at any desired length automatically. Measurements may beeither input by hand or downloaded from an electronic measurement toolinto this device. This invention can generally store multiplemeasurements such as length and angles, measure the length of flex trimmaterial as it is dispensed from the device, crease the material, applypredetermined amount of mastic, and automatically cut the flex trimmaterial to each length previously input. The user is then free to applyone piece of flex trim material after another to multiple drywallcorners on a job site. Moving the flex trim material through the devicemay be powered by hand, pulling the flex trim material out, or poweredby electric motors so all the user needs to do is support the flex trimmaterial as it comes out of the device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Attention is now directed to several illustrations:

FIG. 1 shows a right side view of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 shows a left side view of the embodiment of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the invention configured to form the flextrim material for application to an inside corner on the job site.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the invention configured to form the flextrim material for application to an outside corner on the job site.

Several drawings and illustrations have been presented to aid in theunderstanding of the present invention. The scope of the presentinvention is not limited to what is shown in the figures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Turning to FIG. 1, the right side view of the an embodiment of thepresent invention can be seen. A large roll of trim material (1) can beheld in the device so it can rotate freely as the material is fed offthe roll and moved through the machine. The material is routed to a setof rollers attached to the advance lever (4). Rotating the advance lever(4) rotates these internal rollers which pull the trim material (1) offthe large roll and feed it further into the machine. A cam assembly (18)can be moved left or right in this figure to adjust the position of thefolder frame (20) to set the angle to which the trim material (1) willbe folded, or pre-creased, as it is moved through the device. A pump(10) and applicator(9) assembly applies a mastic to the trim material(1), measures & cuts to the trim material (1) to length, and the userplaces it onto the drywall corner. The cam assembly (18) may be replacedby any mechanical means to locate the folder frame (20) such as air, orelectrical actuators. Also visible in FIG. 1 is a mastic applicatorguide (8) and the mastic applicator (9). The end of the trim material(1) can be seen as it exits the device. Note that it is folded (orcreased) and mastic material Beads (13 a) have been applied to the trimmaterial (1) for application onto an inside corner. A control unit (12)can be seen mounted to the side of the device. This control unit (12)can act as an input/output device for the user, measure the length oftrim material (1) moving through the device, power and activate thecutter (5) as determined by the input measurements, and it may power andcontrol the mastic pump (10) and drive wheels (2,3) if they are motordriven. A cam assembly (18) can also be seen.

FIG. 2 view shows a left side view of the embodiment of FIG. 1. AReservoir (11) normally sits on top of the mastic pump (10). TheReservoir (11) can be filled with, and supply the mastic pump (10) with,the mastic material (13). The mastic pump (10) normally meters and pumpsthe mastic material (13) to mastic applicators (9). The mastic pump (10)may be mechanically driven by a sprocket and chain arraignment (14), asshown, or by an electric motor controlled and powered by the controlunit (12), not shown. A encoder (15), which can be driven by rollersriding against the flex trim material (1) as it moves through thedevice, can be used in conjunction with the control unit (12) to measurethe length of the trim material (1) that has moved through the deviceand the speed with which it is moving through the device. Any method ofmeasuring the length and/or speed of the material is within the scope ofthe present invention. The control unit (12) can use this information todetermine when to cut the trim material (1) to produce pieces of trimmaterial (1) the desired length, and optionally control and drive themastic pump (10) with an electric motor so as to apply the same size ofmastic bead (13 a) to the trim product (1) regardless of how fast thetrim material (1) is moving through the device. The control unit canalso, optionally, to control and drive the bottom drive roller (3) usinga motor. Also shown in FIG. 2 are wheels (16) and a handle (17) used toeasily move the device around the job site or from site to site.

FIG. 3 shows a right side view of an embodiment of the present inventionwith the cam assembly (18) and part of the guide wheels (19) removed sothat the internal parts of this embodiment of the device may be seen.Generally, in this view, the product moves from right to left throughthe device as it is being dispensed as indicated by the arrow on theleft side of the view. The bottom drive roller (3) is normallymechanically linked to the advance lever (4) such that when the advancelever (4) is rotated counter clockwise it mechanically engages thebottom drive roller (3) to rotate in the same direction. When theadvance lever (4) rotates clockwise the bottom drive roller (3) ismechanically disengaged and free to continue rotating in thecounterclockwise direction. The top drive roller (2) is normallydirectly above the bottom drive roller (3) in such a way that the tworollers push against each other. The bottom drive roller (3) may bedriven by an electric motor and controlled by the control unit (12).

The trim material (1) can be routed between the top drive roller (2) andthe bottom drive roller (3) and is normally forced by friction to movein the direction the rollers are rotated. When the advance lever (4) isrotated counter clockwise, the trim material (1) is pulled off of thelarge roll and forced through the cutter (5) and into the folder (6).

The folder (6) is an arrangement of guide wheels (19) which can bemounted on a folder frame (20). The folder frame (20) can bemechanically linked to the cam assembly (18) such that when the camassembly (18) is moved left or right the folder frame (20) is forced upor down. The up and down movement of the folder frame (20) positions theguide wheels (19) so that as the trim material (1) moves through thefolder (6) and the guide wheels (19) will fold the trim material (1).The position of the guide wheels (19) generally determines the angle towhich the trim material (1) is folded.

As the trim material (1) proceeds right to left through the folder (6),and is folded, it exits the folder (6) and moves past a upper guideroller (7A) or lower guide roller (7B) depending on whether the trimmaterial (1) is being folded to an inside or outside angle respectively.These guide rollers (7) guide the trim material (1) into a masticapplicator guide (8). The mastic applicator guide (8) normally has aleft and right side and hinges at the center and is attached to themastic applicator guide frame (21). The mastic applicator guide frame(21) is normally mechanically linked to the cam assembly (18) and moveswith the folder frame (20) as the cam assembly (18) is moved left orright. This mechanical action may be achieved by any alternate means forexample air or hydraulic cylinders.

The mastic applicator guide (8) guides the folded flex trim material (1)past the mastic applicators (9). The mastic applicators (9) are attachedto the applicator guide (8) and therefore are normally positionedproperly to apply mastic bead (13 a) to the trim material (1) regardlessof what angle the trim material (1) is being folded at. There isnormally one mastic applicator (9) on each side of the trim material(1). As the trim material (1) is dispensed (to the left in this view)two mastic beads (13 a) of mastic material (13) are applied to it. Onebead (13 a) of mastic material (13) can be applied to each side of thetrim material (1).

The rate of flow of mastic material (13) out of the mastic applicators(9) is normally determined by how fast the mastic pump (10) rotates,which is determined by how fast the trim material (1) is moving throughthe device. In this way, the same size of mastic bead (13 a) is appliedto the trim material (1) regardless of how fast the trim material (1) ismoving through the device. This results in an exact amount of masticmaterial (13) being applied to the trim material (1) so there is verylittle cleanup or waste.

FIG. 3 shows the device adjusted to form the flex trim material forapplication to an inside corner on the job site.

FIG. 4 shows the device adjusted to form the flex trim material forapplication to an outside corner on the job site.

Several descriptions and illustrations have been provided to better aidin understanding the present invention. One skilled in the art willrealize that there are numerous changes and variations possible withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. Each of these changes andvariations is within the scope of the present invention.

1. A drywall trim application device comprising: a roll holderconfigured to hold a roll of semi-rigid plastic-core drywall trim; afeed mechanism coupled to said roll holder, wherein said feed mechanismis adapted to pull plastic drywall trim from a mounted roll; a masticapplicator adapted to coat at least one side of said trim with mastic; acutter adapted to cut said trim to a predetermined length, and a foldermechanism configured to fold said trim longitudinally along a centerline into an inside or outside corner with a predetermined fold anglespecified by a user.
 2. The drywall trim application device of claim 1wherein said device is fully or partially automatic.
 3. The drywall trimapplication device of claim 1 wherein said drywall trim has a semi rigidcore with a outer surface prepared to accept a mastic, texture, paint orother finishing material.
 4. The drywall trim application device ofclaim 1 wherein said drywall trim has a semi rigid core with a innersurface prepared to accept a bonding medium for adhering to the drywallcorner.
 5. The drywall trim application device of claim 1 wherein saiddevice can apply drywall joint compound, adhesives, or a medium thatactivates an adhesive already present on the surface of the drywalltrim.
 6. The drywall trim application device of claim 1 wherein saiddevice includes a memory device configured to store multiple lengthmeasurements and cut angles.
 7. The drywall trim application device ofclaim 1 wherein said device can dispense a piece of folded, coated andmeasured trim material automatically or on command.
 8. The drywall trimapplication device of claim 1 wherein said device can dispense a pieceof folded, coated and measured trim material in a manual mode.
 9. Thedrywall trim application device of claim 1 wherein said trim material ishas a metal core.
 10. The drywall trim application device of claim 1wherein said trim material is has a plastic core.
 11. A drywall trimapplication device comprising: a roll holder adapted to hold a roll ofsemi-rigid plastic-core drywall trim; a feeder adapted to feed drywalltrim from said roll; a folder adapted to fold the trim longitudinally;an adhesive applicator adapted to apply adhesive to the trim ; and acutter adapted to cut the trim to predetermined lengths; a memory, thememory adapted to store at least one predetermined cutting angle and onepredetermined cutting length specified by a user; whereby, the devicecontinuously feeds trim pieces cut to the predetermined cutting lengthat the predetermined cutting angle, folds the trim longitudinally andcoats the trim pieces with an adhesive material.
 12. The drywall trimapplication device of claim 11 wherein said device can dispense a pieceof folded, coated and measured trim material automatically or oncommand.
 13. The drywall trim application device of claim 11 whereinsaid device can store multiple measurements and angles in said memory.14. The drywall trim application device of claim 13 wherein said devicecan dispense a piece of folded, coated and measured trim materialautomatically or on command.
 15. The drywall trim application device ofclaim 11 wherein said drywall trim is constructed having a semi rigidcore with an outer surface prepared to accept a mastic, texture, paintor other finishing material.
 16. The drywall trim application device ofclaim 11 wherein said drywall trim has a semi rigid core with an innersurface prepared to accept a bonding medium for adhering to the drywallcorner.
 17. The drywall trim application device of claim 15 wherein saiddrywall trim has a semi rigid core with an inner surface prepared toaccept a bonding medium for adhering to the drywall corner.
 18. Thedrywall trim application device of claim 12 wherein said drywall trimhas semi rigid core with an outer surface prepared to accept a mastic,texture, paint or other finishing material.
 19. The drywall trimapplication device of claim 18 wherein said drywall trim has a semirigid core with an inner surface prepared to accept a bonding medium foradhering to the drywall corner.
 20. A drywall corner trim applicationdevice comprising: a roll holder configured to hold a roll of flatplastic drywall trim material; a feeder mechanism cooperating with theroll holder adapted to feed trim material from the roll holder into andthrough the device; a control unit adapted to store at least one cutangle and at least one cut length; a folder mechanism adapted tolongitudinally fold the trim material while it is being fed though thedevice by the feeder mechanism. a mastic applicator mechanism adapted toapply mastic to the trim material; a feed encoder device electricallycoupled to the control unit providing an electrical signal to theprocessor indicative of an instantaneous feed length; a cutter bladecontrolled by the control unit adapted to cut the trim material intostrips of said cut length cut at said cut angle.